Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter

Okay, chapter 2. When we last left off, Ron had lost it and forcefully transformed McGonagall into her animagus cat form. What is he going to do with her now?

Caged

When I came to, the first thing I thought was that it had all been a horrid dream. That I had become so frustrated with Mr. Weasley, that I had actually imagined him attacking me. But the truth revealed itself when I opened my eyes. Aside from the décor of red, I saw bars, silver bars. I recognized it immediately as the Gryffindor common room. I looked down at myself. I was in my cat form, and not of my own choosing.

It all came back like the sudden shock of a curse. I quickly jumped up and hit the roof of the thing I'd been placed in. To my utter humiliation, I'd been placed inside of a pet carrier. One small enough to suit a regular cat, and not a professor who happened to have the ability to change into one. The bars were too small for me to reach a paw through and pick the lock. I had no ability to use my powers in my current state, and at my age, to transform while inside the carrier would be a risk on my spine.

'Stay calm Minerva'. The best thing to do in this situation, was to remain calm.

Of course, that manner of thinking wasn't preventing me from thinking of some serious punishments for Mr. Weasley, starting with expulsion and ending with life in Azkaban. My tail thumped furiously against the blue plastic walls as I observed an empty common room. From what I could see, I was near the fireplace on the floor, but still able to see the window across the room. The morning was just starting to rise. In a manner of minutes, the Gryffindors would be coming down. Until then, I tried pushing against the cage door in hopes Mr. Weasley had been thick enough to forget to lock it.

Unfortunately he had remembered. Of course he had. He'd had this planned out for who knew how long. It made me feel like a fool to not have seen it coming. But what professor would see a student attacking them?

I stopped thinking when I heard footsteps coming down the stairs. I tensed and cast my gaze in the direction of the arrival. Immediately I hissed.

Stepping into my line of sight, around the couch was my kidnapper. He didn't look as lost or mad as he had the previous day. He looked ill, and I knew it was the result of his conscious forcing its way through that thick skull of his. I hoped it sounded like my own voice.

I hissed again when he approached me. For a moment, he just stood in front of me looking confused. Then he reached down and picked up the carrier. I was tempted to reach my claws through the bars and latch onto his robes, but I reframed from doing so. Just because he had gone mad, didn't mean I had to either.

He sat me down on the couch facing him. I gave him another hiss, demanding him to let me out at once. He glanced at me, then looked over at the empty fireplace.

"I'm sorry about this professor," he muttered. "I don't know what I was thinking."

'You knew exactly what you were thinking!' I thought angrily. I clawed at the door.

"You can't get out of there professor. I charmed it. It's one of the charms I'd been practicing yesterday. So was that Angino inretio curse."

'Curse?' Now I was starting to worry more.

"Not a bad curse. I mean, just one to keep you like a cat."

'Oh no,' I thought. 'Not a bad curse at all.'

"I'm not going to hurt you."

'You already are!' I hissed and darted my clawed paw out once more.

Mr. Weasley swallowed hard and looked sicker than before.

"Look, if you behave, I'll let you out. Deal?"

I thought this boy really must be mad. I gave him my sternest stare. He stared back at me. He knew I meant business.

'Let me out. This. INSTANT!'

I knew he didn't have to be a mind reader to know what my glare meant. Then the sound of other students coming down gave me hope. I yowled loudly and was able to get the attention of a Ms. Hermione Granger.

"Ron? What's that cat doing in there?"

I pushed my face up to the bars so she would be able to see me clearly. Surely Ms. Granger would recognize me.

"Where else do cats belong?" he muttered.

"Cat's don't belong locked up Ron," she hissed. "Where did it come from?"

"Oh…uh, I found it wandering around near my bed." A terrible lie in my opinion.

"Ron, do you really expect me to believe that?" she asked.

"I…well, where do you think she came from?"

"I don't know. That's why I'm asking you." I watched impatiently as she leaned closer to the door and peered in at me. I could only give a 'meow' , and hope she would somehow understand. "If she belongs to somebody—"

I wanted to sigh in despair, but then I noticed her frowning at me.

"She doesn't belong to anyone," Mr. Weasley argued, in that nasty tone of his. "She's mine now. She's got no tags."

He lifted up my carrier so fast, I actually lost my balance. I hissed, angry at his attempt to prevent Ms. Granger from getting a closer look.

"What's the problem?" I recognized Mr. Potter's voice and I cried out. "Ron? What are you doing with Crookshanks? Wait, that's not Crookshanks."

"No, it's a cat that I found, and Hermione doesn't think I should keep it." Again, my sharp ears picked up Mr. Weasley's inappropriate tone.

"I didn't say that. I was just saying you need to find out who she belongs to before you go claiming her."

"Fine."

I had just gotten to my feet, when his sudden departure from the room knocked me over again. I hissed angrily, and if my ears weren't mistaken, I could have sworn I heard the boy mutter, "Oh shut it."

I was dropped unceremoniously onto his bed. I glared up at him, and twitched my tail. And then I came to the conclusion that we weren't alone.

"What's that you've got there Weasley?"

"Nothing Seamus. Just a cat."

"Cat from where?"

"Found it. Near my bed."

"Let me see," I heard Mr. Longbottom say. There was hope once more, but Mr. Weasley sought to blocking me from view.

"It's just a gray cat. Nothing special, so leave her alone."

"Nothing special huh?" came Mr. Jordan's voice. "What do you plan to do with it."

I could see nothing but the black of Mr. Weasley's robes.

"K-keep it. It's not like I have my rat anymore is it. Now get away from my bed."

"Jeez, overprotective."

I heard the boys starting to move away, so I began to cry out to them. They had to know it was me. I hissed and knocked against the door. Eventually the boy moved away and I could see it was only the two of us left in the room. He sighed and looked at me with tired eyes.

"Not sure this is worth the trouble…but."

He stepped away and returned a minute later with a pet water bottle dispenser that he attached to the outside of my door. Instead of water, there was milk, and the spout was able to fit just in-between the bars.

"Told you I'm not gonna hurt you. I'm gonna…take really good care of you, like I did my rat."

I was more alarmed then ever at that statement. He no longer possessed his rat, and I wasn't sure why. I found myself to be quite afraid. He only gave me a grim expression before drawing the curtains around his bed. Caging me further by keeping me hidden. I yowled my loudest, but he didn't turn around. He didn't stop to realize he was making his crime much worse. My only hope now was in the staff and the students solving my sudden departure.

Not knowing what was occurring in the castle kept my fur on edge. Had my disappearance become a crisis in which everything was put on hold? Were the students talking enough to frightened the boy into confessing what he had done? Would Ms. Granger be able to put two and two together?

I didn't know, but I hoped it was all occurring. For now, all I could do was curl up on the floor of the cage, and wait for classes to end. During my wait, I did get thirsty, but I refused to suckle from a pet dispenser. Regardless of what the boy said, I had no intention of complying to be his pet. The boy was clearly out of his mind.

At one point, I considered transforming so that my body could possibly break the carrier, but I was sure I'd probably break my neck first in the attempt. There was nothing I could do but wait.

Such a wait, felt like a whole day. When I heard the noises of students arriving down below, I stood. The curtains were still drawn, so I couldn't see who was walking into the room. I yowled once more. The curtains were drawn away quickly, and I was met with the last person I wanted to see. He looked a lot sicker now, but deadly serious. I can only imagine the conflict he was feeling at keeping the secret of the disappearing professor. My ears flattened automatically at the sight of him. He didn't say anything for several minutes.

"I know you probably know what's going on out there. Everyone's talking about…well, you know."

I did indeed know. 'What did you think they would be talking about? The nice weather?' He looked around, as if to make sure no one was listening in.

"Look, if you can, just…bare with me, I promise things will be alright, alright?"

I growled in response. I had a long lecture in mind, but for the moment, all I wanted to do was to leap through the bars.

He looked around himself again, then slowly, he pulled out his wand. My gaze instantly dropped to it. What was he planning to do now? How could he possibly make it any worse for me. I backed away, as far away as I possibly could in the cage. My ears were still flattened against my head, so I did not hear the spell he muttered. I felt it. It tingled all over the tips of my fur. It was as if a warm blanket had suddenly fallen upon me and made me somewhat tired.

When it was gone, I looked up at the boy. He pocketed his wand and was observing me closely.

"Alright. I'll be back later with food. Til then. I'm sorry."

He backed away and drew the curtains tight once more. Slowly, I laid myself down. I was still a cat, but he had definitely done something to me that I couldn't see. The carrier provided just enough room for me to stretch out. I quickly found that I could fight the tired feeling rather easily, but I chose not to. There was nothing I could do. I would have to wait for Mr. Weasley's return, or one of the other boys. Until then, I was simply a cat in a cage.

Ron appears to be getting crueler by the minute. But he did promise he'll look after her. Chapters will stay from the point of view of McGonagall, so we don't yet know how the rest of Hogwarts is reacting to the missing McGonagall. We'll see soon enough in the next chapter!